somebville



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WM. SOMERVILLFI, OF BUFFALO, NEV YORK.

MODE OF ATTACHING ELASTI'C SOLES TO HORSESHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18.306, dated September 2'), 1357- To @ZZ whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SoMEEvILLE, of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Attaching Soles to Horseshoes, the construction and operation of which I have described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings with sufficient clearness to enable competent and skillful workmen in the arts to which it pertainsor is most nearly allied to make and use my invention. A

My said invention consists in attaching an elastic sole to the shoe of a horse in the manner hereinafter described, by which the inner portion of the bottom of the foot is'protected from damage resulting from contact with sharp and angular substances, as set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a sectional elevation of the foot of a horse with a shoe upon it and my improvement attached. Fig. 2 is a plan of it inverted, some of the parts being broken away to show others more clearly. Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the shoe and sole placed upon one side.

A is the foot of the horse. B is the shoe placed upon it, made in most respects in the Inanner in which horseshoes are usually made.

C is a piece ot' india-rubber, which lills that space under the foot which is partially inclosed by the shoe. The object of this cushion or sole O is to protect the frog and other parts of the bottom of the foot which are not protected by the shoe.v This sole C is attached to the shoe by three prongs, D D E, which are attached to it for that purpose by rivets F, as shown in the drawings. The prongs D, attached to the heel ofthe sole, rest in recesses punched in the heel of the shoe, as shown in the drawings, particularly in Fig. 3. The prong E is inserted between the hoof and the shoe, the latter being beveled, if necessary, for that purpose, though in most cases this is not required, as the hoof generally rises at that point enough to admit the prong E with perfect freedom. The sole is sprung into place after the shoe is put on by first inserting one of the prongs D and bending and pressing the heel ofthe sole till the other prong D will spring into place, and then inserting the prong E by a similar operation.

This sole may be removed for cleaning the foot or for other purposes by first prying up the heel of it in the middle, so as to displace the prongs D, which allows it to be removed with facility.

This device protects the tender and unprotected portions of the bottom of the foot of the horse from those bruises and laeerations to which it is otherwise constantly liable from hard and angular particles of stone and other substances, particularly upon newly paved or Inacadamized roads, and which so often lame the animal and render him unfit for service.

The. particular improvement which constitutes my said invention, and which I claim as having been originally and rst invented by Ine, 1s-

The sole O, provided with prongs or metallic projections D and E, or their equivalents, in combination with recesses or rabbets or their equivalents in or above the shoe, substantially as herein set forth.

VIVM. SOMERVILLE.

Vitnesses:

RoB'r. SOMEEVILLE, l). KANE. 

